The Greens today blasted a Liberal election leaflet being distributed throughout the Newcastle area that claims the Baird government has delivered “12,000 extra public transport services per week”.

“It’s just as well for the Liberals that consumer protection laws don’t apply to political communication, because this would be an open-and-shut case of misleading and deceptive conduct,” The Greens candidate for Newcastle, Michael Osborne, said today.

“Without even counting the loss of direct train services to Wickham, Civic and Newcastle stations, the Coalition government has slashed our bus services (by 144 per week), and our train services (by 5 per week), and has overseen a massive loss of public transport use, which eclipses even the woeful record of the previous Labor government [see table below].

“State Transit Authority figures show that in the Coalition’s first three years in government (2010/11 to 2013/14) they lost a staggering 631,807 fare-paying passengers (12.25%), as a result of fewer services that are poorly connected and add time to a journey. The Liberals have worsened what was already a run-down system from years of Labor neglect.

“Mr Baird claims that he wants to ‘win back the trust’ of Newcastle voters after last year’s ICAC revelations.

“If he was serious about this, he’d be honest about the neglect of Newcastle’s public transport system under his watch, and he’d be telling us how he’ll fix it, instead of peddling deceptive material that tries to play Newcastle voters for mugs.

“Karen Howard, Liberal candidate for Newcastle should be ashamed. The appalling state of public transport in Newcastle is a direct result of Labor and Liberal policy and their disinterest in building an integrated network. To claim that they have somehow ‘improved’ public transport when their own department figures show otherwise is outrageous. Howard should apologise to Newcastle voters for misleading them about this issue.

“Is this the misleading conduct we can expect of the Baird government if they’re re-elected?” Mr Osborne said.

Contact Michael Osborne 0439 442 984

NEWCASTLE BUSES PATRONAGE LOSS 2007/8 TO 2013/14 – COALITION v LABOR*

Newcastle Buses: All Passengers

Data Years

Passengers Lost

% Lost

Labor Government

2007/8 – 2010/11

437,000

3.49%

Coalition Government

2011/12 – 2013 /14

516,000

4.28%

Newcastle Buses: Fare-paying Passengers

Data Years

Passengers Lost

% Lost

Labor Government

2007/8 – 2010/11

418,257

7.5%

Coalition Government

2011/12 – 2013 /14

631,807

12.25%

* Figures based on data in NSW State Transit Authority Quarterly Performance reports (http://www.statetransit.info/publications/quarterly) and information provided in annual reports and to the media by Transport for NSW). Note the All Passenger figures include school students.